I’ve had a desire to play this DLC on the channel for a while now because it’s still one of the most fascinating genre blends I have ever seen. It might have even stayed on the backlist if it weren’t for the release of Deathloop. As it stands, I really want to run Deathloop on stream. However, it would feel wrong to do that without first touching Mooncrash.
I don’t believe the developers have stated as much, but I personally think Prey: Mooncrash is a spiritual predecessor to Deathloop. It’s possible to play one without playing the other, but it doesn’t feel right to.
So let’s begin.
Thumbnail by Sam Callahan.
When I first heard about this DLC, I was skeptical. I didn’t think immersive sim gameplay would work with the structure of a roguelike. The former is predicated on the idea that levels and encounters are tightly designed so that any build should be capable of winning, even if other builds will be better equipped. The latter is predicated on leveraging RNG and procedural generation to make each individual run feel unique, unlike any other.
While these seemed like (at least to me) fundamentally opposing principals, the reality is that the two styles are a match made in heaven. The overall map layout remains largely static, which gives the player a sense of mastery over the space as they continue to make attempts at the simulation. And yet, there’s always enough variability in enemy spawns and random hazards that they cannot be entirely sure about their safety. Even when the space is known, and what we’re trying to do inside of it, we will need to be prepared to think on our feet if we encounter any unforeseen hindrances to our journey.
To make sure that we avoid unnecessary dawdling, the game also throws in the concept of Simulation Corruption. The longer our run goes on, the more corrupt the system will become, respawning and strengthening the enemies in our way, and increasing the number of environmental hazards we will need to deal with. Should our corruption reach high enough levels, then the run comes to a premature end and the simulation will need to begin all over again.
When you combine it with the way progress gets carried over between runs (which we’ll talk a bit more about next week), it really comes together as a complete package stronger than the sum of its parts. We’ve already made a lot of progress to start, so hopefully, we continue at this pace.
Fingers crossed.
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